Welcome

I am a Full Professor in Theoretical High-Energy Physics. Since 2009 I occupy the 'Willem de Sitter' Chair in Theoretical Physics and in 2010 I was awarded an Academy Professorship ('Akademie Professor') by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. Till 01-09-2017 I was the director of the Van Swinderen Institute (VSI) for Particled Physics and Gravity. On 06-01-2018 I was appointed to Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, see the Wikipedia page .

My research is driven by the search for a unified theory of quantum gravity that combines gravity with quantum mechanics. The aim is to understand the workings of gravity at small distance scales when quantum mechanics cannot be ignored. Examples of such extreme conditions are the Big Bang at the start of our Universe and the Black Holes predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity. String Theory is a main candidate for a theory of quantum gravity. My present work is focused on unraveling the properties of non-relativistic string theory and its underlying non-relativistic gravity to obtain new insights into the status of non-relativistic quantum gravity and holography.I am using the same non-relativistic gravity in effective field theory to gain new insights into certain aspects of the fractional quantum Hall effect.

last updated: January 2022